Family rejoices as 'dead' UN worker turns up alive

Marilyn Manuel's family and friends had gathered to mourn at their New York City home after hearing the worst: Officials told them she had been killed in the bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Iraq.

Then, a telephone call early on Thursday brought a miracle: Manuel's voice on the line, calling from a hospital outside Baghdad.

"We're in disbelief ... What are the chances?" her daughter, Vanessa Manuel-Mazzullo, 29, said in a telephone interview yesterday from the family's home in Queens.

Manuel-Mazzullo said her mother, an 18-year UN employee, told them she had undergone eye surgery.

"Her voice sounded strong, and we're hopeful," she said.

In Manila, where the family has relatives, Manuel's cousin Susan de Vera said memorial prayers planned for this evening will instead be a thanksgiving Mass.

She said Manuel was able to borrow a cell phone from a nurse at a makeshift hospital to call her family in New York, not knowing that they were already grieving.

"They are celebrating now because she's alive. Actually, it's her (54th) birthday today," de Vera said.

Manuel, who has four children, has travelled to Liberia, Somalia and East Timor as well as Iraq in her work for the United Nations, her daughter said.

"We are very proud of the work she has done," she said.

De Vera said Manuel would be flown back to New York over the weekend.

The United Nations reported 22 people were killed in the attack, including the UN's chief envoy to Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello.

However, independent checks by The Associated Press at Iraq hospitals showed at least 23 died.

De Vera said Manuel's husband, Benjamin, had not been able to come to terms with her apparent death.

"He could not accept that she was dead and as it turns out he was right," she said.

"If she had not been able to borrow a cell phone, we would still be grieving."